


you were there at the beginning

by loopunderground



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alphys & Mettaton Friendship, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Established Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), F/F, Mettaton (Undertale) Being an Asshole, Mettaton EX (Undertale), Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 18:04:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16000502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loopunderground/pseuds/loopunderground
Summary: Things were good.Well.Objectively speaking.Or: Alphys and Mettaton have a lot of unresolved issues about how they treated each other in the Underground. They decide to talk it out.





	you were there at the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY UNDERTALE ANNIVERSARY!!! 
> 
> this is a fic looking at alphys and mettaton's friendship, with a lot of alphyne sprinkled in!!!
> 
> warnings: a lot of angst and friends being shitty to each other (it does end happily though!) 
> 
> i hope you enjoy!!!

Things were good.

 

Well.

 

Objectively speaking.

 

Everyone had left the underground now, the last of the stragglers finally giving into their curiosity and venturing up and out into the bright new world. It was strange; the whole Underground had become something of a hotel now, for people to go back and visit if they wanted to. Some of the humans had finally started taking an interest in seeing where all these monsters had spent their days, and with the barrier firmly shattered, they had started to visit. In fact, the relationship between humans and monsters was getting stronger by the day the last Alphys heard of it – Frisk had been doing a wonderful job as ambassador, and whilst the monsters decided to live close to each other on the surface for safety, they didn't gander as many strange looks from humans as they used to. Perhaps they were just as curious about monsters as monsters were about the surface, Alphys thought. And besides, the war had been a very, very long time ago. Generations had passed since then. It would never be forgotten but time was in their favour.

 

So, objectively speaking everything was great.

 

Except... It wasn't. Personally speaking.

 

She still hadn't talked to Mettaton.

 

Well that wasn't entirely true, they _had_ talked to each other, there'd been celebrations with the others: Asgore, Toriel, Frisk, Papyrus, Sans, they all met up fairly frequently – even Napstablook had started turning up with Mettaton, which warmed Alphys' heart. She'd never really spoke to them much but she'd seen them around when she'd first gone to see Mettaton way back when, and on a rare occasion she thought she'd saw them when visiting Undyne, but they'd always been so shy. It was nice to see them come out of their shell, and to see them and Mettaton rekindle their family bond. It was partly due to that that she had put off their conversation, wanting to give Metta space to be with those he loved, even if he'd scarce admit how much his family meant to him. And she'd been busy too, now that Undyne was her girlfriend (and it still made her heart race to say it, still couldn't believe it was true) she'd been spending a lot of time with her, they'd even decided to move in together which might have been too soon, but everyone had sort of paired up anyway, and besides it was Undyne that asked, and Alphys was very much in love.

 

So they'd both just been busy, getting to know the surface and see people and... And...

 

She was scared. She was so scared of speaking to him.

 

Owning up to her mistakes, the horrible things she'd done had been so difficult. But Frisk had shown her what it meant to be brave and she knew that she couldn't hide her mistakes forever. So she'd let the Amalgamates go, explained what had happened, and she had been terrified but it had been worth it in the end. But she'd fucked up so bad, and maybe they were the worst of it, but everything that had happened with Mettaton was a pretty big fuck up, and both of them knew it. And it hurt her because she cared about him, but she'd used him and he was hurt by it, and he'd said some things to her and betrayed her trust and yeah, she deserved it, but... It was just a mess.

 

When he'd locked her out of the room when Frisk found him, she'd been terrified; it wasn't part of the plan and she'd felt sick as she pounded on the door begging to be let in. And when the door had finally opened and he was laying there in pieces, no light in his eyes, her heart had stopped. Even when she realised he'd only run out of power she couldn't will the sickness away. She'd dragged him back to her workshop and pieced him back together with shaky hands and tears in her eyes the whole time because all of a sudden the idea of him being dead, fallen, _gone_ was the only thing in her mind and what would she have done without him?? Things had gone so wrong but he was her friend, one of the very few she had and if he had been killed...

 

When he powered back up she'd sobbed with relief, and she'd furiously wiped the tears away as they both just stared at each other, unsure of what the hell they were supposed to say. A thousand things raced through Alphys' head but when she tried none of the words came out. Instead:

 

“They-They're going to fight Asgore.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I-I don't... I...”

 

Her phone rang before she could say anything else. Without really thinking she answered it, to a very excitable Papyrus demanding she came with him to go help the human so they wouldn't have to hurt anyone. She managed to stammer out an 'okay' before she hung up. Mettaton gave her a weak smile, having heard everything.

 

“Go.”

 

“B-But we...” She let out a sigh, guilt sitting heavy in her gut. “There's so much I have to say.”

 

Mettaton nodded. “Me too. But the human needs your help. Go Alphys. We can... We'll talk later. I think we both need to think things through.”

 

Alphys nodded, feeling the sting of fresh tears in her eyes. There was a mixture of unspoken apologies and accusations hanging in the air that they desperately needed to sort though but he was right, there wasn't enough time now. The human needed help and maybe Alphys could at least go and try do something right, make up for some of her mistakes. With a nod she stepped away and headed towards the exit of the lab. The doors opened before her and she looked back, hesitating for a moment. Mettaton tried to give her a reassuring look and gestured for her to go.

 

“It's alright darling. We'll talk later. I promise.”

 

*****

 

It had been months since then and 'later' still hadn't arrived. She knew she was being cowardly, she could call him whenever and ask him to come over, but a part of her wanted to pretend their promise of a conversation had never happened – the shock of the Amalgamates had finally seemed to have worn off and she'd begun working towards some sort of cure to try right her wrongs, knowing it was the least she could do for them and their families. But she knew that talking to Mettaton again would force her to be accountable for her other mistakes, and a selfish part of her had gotten used to people being happy with her, not disappointed or disgusted; Undyne looked at her like she was the sun, moon and stars, and she couldn't bear to give that up.

 

As time went on Alphys found herself getting more and more anxious about it, to the point where she'd declined hanging out with the others when she was invited and had started throwing herself into her work again. It wasn't a good path to go down, but her only other option was to just talk to him and yeah, no thanks, she wasn't doing that. It would be the end of their friendship, she was sure of it. He probably didn't want to talk about it anyway. Her denial and refusal to deal with the problem worked for the most part, until she'd somehow spent two whole days in her new lab without managing to eat or speak to anyone – at which point Undyne was forced to intervene.

 

Alphys didn't even hear her enter at first, too immersed in her notes. The hand on her shoulder made her jump and spin around in her chair as she let out a yelp. Upon realising it was just her girlfriend she couldn't help but blush, embarrassed at her own lack of awareness.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I- Uh, yeah! I-I just didn't hear you, that's all!”

 

“No not that, I mean I haven't seen you in days, I'm not sure if you've even eaten during that time! Seriously, are you okay? I'm worried about you.”

 

“O-Oh no, really I'm okay, just busy with all of this.” She gestured at her desk, although looking at it now all her calculations were off and her handwriting had devolved into more or less scribbles, papers were strewn everywhere and whilst admittedly she wasn't the neatest of monsters, this did seem to scream 'crisis'. Undyne realised this too and took her girlfriends hand, leading her out of the lab, despite spluttered protests. “C'mon,” she said, tugging her girlfriend along as gently as she was capable of (which was to say, not very) “we're gonna get you some food and then we're gonna sit down and you're gonna tell me what's wrong.” Alphys gave up her struggling and sighed, letting herself be dragged out the lab and towards their kitchen.

 

*****

 

Admittedly the moment she got some food in her mouth she realised just how hungry she was, and that it was probably best Undyne found her when she did. The fish in question was sat across from her, some of the worry gone from her features as she watched Alphys eat the sandwiches she'd prepared. “Better?” She asked and Alphys nodded, squirming in her seat a little as she finished the last one. “Thank you, I-I didn't realise how much time had passed.”

 

“Yeah no kidding.” Undyne huffed and Alphys looked down at the plate in embarrassment – she wasn't used to someone seeing her so vulnerable, seeing her flaws up close and in detail, and yet somehow, despite everything, they hadn't pushed Undyne away. Alphys didn't deserve her, but she was so unbelievably grateful that she had her in in her life.

 

“You ready to talk about it?”

 

Alphys laughed nervously, and began to fiddle with her claws.

 

“I-I'm never ready to talk about a-anything.”

 

Undyne reached over and took both of her hands in her own.

 

“Its okay Alphy, just take it slowly. Its just me, remember? Everything will be okay.”

 

Alphys was so deeply, deeply in love with her.

 

“Y-Yeah. I guess. Its kinda dumb really...”

 

“Not if its upsetting you. Is it the research?”

 

“No! No that's going well, for once.”

 

“Has someone said something to you?”

 

Alphys snorted softly. “Th-That's kinda the problem...”

 

When she looked up Undyne appeared confused, and Alphys sighed, resigning herself to admitting her insecurities yet again.

 

“I-Its just, I haven't really spoken to Mettaton since we came to the surface. A-And we're not not speaking, he gave me a hug at Frisk's birthday party, b-but...” Alphys stood up and paced nervously, whilst Undyne sat back, wanting to go after her but giving her the chance to get it out of her system. “We-We never got the chance to talk about w-what happened down there and I was such a b-bad friend to him but h-he said some things that were kinda mean and, gosh I-I know he's kinda an ass sometimes but he's my f-friend and we need to talk it out b-but what if he hates me for it? What if t-talking about it makes him remember how awful I was?? I feel b-bad for not talking to him b-but he hasn't called me or messaged me so I don't know what to do!”

 

Before she could go on, she was bundled up into a tight hug, promptly ending her freak-out. She closed her eyes and let herself relax into it, allowing her breathing to return to somewhat normal levels.

 

“Its okay Alphys, its gonna be fine. Hey, if he really held a grudge for what went down between you both, and he seems like the kind of petty asshole that can hold a grudge for a long time, then surely he'd have expressed that by now, right? But he hasn't, has he?”

 

“N-No I mean, he's been there a-at parties and its been fine...”

 

“See? I mean from what you've said I think you guys should definitely talk things through, especially if its getting you this worked up.” Undyne stroked her head and pressed a kiss there before continuing. “But if he hated you you'd know about it. So I think its gonna be okay. But do me a favour and don't ever tell him I spoke in his favour because he'll never let me hear the end of it and in that case I might actually have to power him down for good-”

 

“Undyne!”

 

“-Sorry! Kind of. Anyway maybe he's scared too. Underneath all that narcissism maybe he's just as worried as you are. At the end of the day, he's your friend babe. I'm sure he cares about you. If you keep all this bottled up it won't do you any good. Call him, he can come round and I can be there if you need me, and if I need to throw his ass into the trash.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I know babe. I love you too. Seriously though, call him. It'll be okay.”

 

Alphys wasn't so sure of that, but she couldn't help but feel inspired by Undyne's confidence. And whilst it still took her a few days after their conversation, she finally mustered up enough courage one evening to ring her friend. She trembled as she pushed the call button and could already feel herself sweating despite the fact he hadn't picked up yet, which only served to fill her with more anxiety.

 

“Hello?”

 

“H-Hi! It's A-Alphys!” She rolled her eyes at herself immediately – of course he knew who it was, he had caller ID.

 

“Darling! What a pleasant surprise!”

 

“H-How are you doing?”

 

That seemed to be safe enough territory for the moment. He went on for a while talking about his life now they were on the surface, about how he lived with Blooky and how they and Shyren had made some huge developments on the show they were working on. Alphys couldn't help but smile at that part, glad that despite his ever-growing narcissism he'd now began to make time for his family and friends since he did care about them very deeply.

 

“But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. How are you Alphys dear?”

 

“O-Oh I'm fine, I was just c-calling cause I haven't run a diagnostics check on you i-in a while and I just wanted to make sure everything's okay? A-And maybe we could uh, hang out too?”

 

“Oh yes of course darling, you and I haven't had a little get together for a while now have we? Been busy with your terrifying girlfriend I imagine.”

 

She could hear the disdain in his voice and she knew that him and Undyne had always butted heads but she still always wondered whether he was happy at all that they'd gotten together.

 

“Haha, uh, yeah I guess. W-Would you like to come round sometime?”

 

“Sure, I can clear some space in my schedule, how about this week?”

 

They sorted out the details and ended the call, with the promise of spending the afternoon together in two days time. Alphys was shaking quite violently once she'd put her phone down but she felt proud of herself for calling him and organising a meeting. She knew that in the two days she had she'd inevitably work herself into a frenzy about every possible bad outcome but at least it was going to happen and maybe she'd finally get some answers from him about what had happened back in the Underground. As she pocketed her phone he heard the telltale sign of Undyne returning from work.

 

“Alphy! I'm home!”

 

The front door slammed shut, and was followed by Undyne striding into the living room where Alphys was sat fidgeting on the sofa. Her mood suddenly lifted, Alphys smiled brightly and shuffled over as Undyne flopped next to her. “How was work?” Alphys asked, as Undyne snuggled up against her.

 

“Pretty good, I had them learning how to block punches today, they all managed to do it!”

 

“Th-That's amazing! You're a great teacher!”

 

Undyne tried to hide her blush by shrugging it off, “Nah, they had it in themselves they just needed some encouragement. But anyway what have you been up to?”

 

It was a distraction and she knew it, but Alphys just smiled and let her girlfriend get away with it. “W-Well I called Metta and invited him over...”

 

“You did?! Babe I'm so proud of you!”

 

“I-It was nothing...”

 

“No way, I know how upset you were about it, I'm so proud of you for calling him!”

 

It was Alphys' turn to blush this time, as she hid her face in her hands. “Th-Thanks...”

 

Undyne beamed at her and took her hands away from her face so she could press kisses all over her cheeks. “You're the best.” She grinned, in-between kisses, whilst Alphys squirmed against her.

 

“I-I don't think that's true.”

 

“Oh yes it is. And I think I want to show you just how proud I am of you...”

 

Alphys looked at her in confusion, but with Undyne's suggestive grin, she got the message pretty quick. She barely had time to get out an 'oh' before Undyne had taken her hand and started leading her upstairs. Maybe being brave did have its perks after all.

 

*****

 

Being brave was significantly harder the day they were supposed to hang out. Undyne had left that morning to spend the day with Papyrus, after Alphys promised she'd be okay without her there, that this was something she needed to do for herself, to prove she could be strong. Umdyme eventually agreed but swore that she would be there in a second if Alphys needed her and she would, and quote, 'rip his stupid legs off and make him taste his own boots', which Alphys assured her was unnecessary (she'd spent a long time building those legs, even if things did go south it would be a shame to ruin her handiwork), but even as she waved her girlfriend goodbye Alphys couldn't help the dread that settled in her stomach. How was she even supposed to bring it up? _Hey I know we've been conveniently ignoring each other because we don't want to talk about it but maybe its time we actually sat down and talked about how I used you and how you betrayed me?_ Because that would go down _so_ well. Alphys looked at the clock on the wall and sighed; she still had a few hours to kill before Mettaton arrived and the house was already clean, what was a monster supposed to do?

 

She hated herself for her own predictability as she put Mew Mew into the DVD player and turned it on. Maybe she could get some inspiration from her favourite character as to how to deal with Mettaton.

 

*****

 

Three hours later and she hadn't managed to find the answers, but had realised that she could just about recite the show word for word, which was genuinely quite embarrassing but something she secretly took pride in. Everyone needed a hobby right?

 

She was so nervous she wasn't sure if she was going to be sick, although that would have been a wonderful excuse to call the whole thing off. But she couldn't cancel now, she'd disappoint more than just herself. Papyrus for example, he'd been so proud of her in their confidence training sessions, telling her how far she'd come! He would be devastated if she didn't do this and Alphys couldn't bear to see Papyrus sad, she didn't think anyone could; it was like upsetting a puppy.

 

So, she had to go through with it. Even if she couldn't stop shaking and was already on the verge of tears. There was no other choice. And logistically she really did need to do a maintenance check-up with him, no doubt he was using his Ex form more and it really did drain his battery, she needed to make sure he hadn't fried any circuits. A knock at the door alerted her to the real world, an alarm to signal that her time for self-pity was over. She took a moment to practice her breathing techniques, and once she was calm enough she plastered on a smile and opened the door to Mettaton, who was stood there in all his usual glamour.

 

“Darling!” He exclaimed, stepping in and giving her a hug. She barely had time to return it before he'd let go and stepped into the house making comments about the décor. Well, she reasoned as she shut the door behind him, he's his usual self so he can't be that made with me.

 

“Oh how sweet, you've even got those little figurines of yours everywhere still. Some things don't change, do they dear?”

 

“O-Oh I suppose not. D-Do you want to s-start with the check up now?”

 

“Aren't you going to offer me a drink darling? You are hosting after all.”

 

“Uh, but I-I don't? Wait, um...” She rambled flustered, he couldn't have a drink so why...? She was already red in the face before he started laughing, sitting back on the sofa.

 

“Oh Alphys I'm teasing, stop worrying! Now come and put one of your cartoons on and we can sit back and do maintenance and catch up.”

 

“R-Right.”

 

This was the kind of thing she needed to bring up with him, the consistent teasing and putting her down, she knew it was just Mettaton being... Well, _Mettaton_ , but it did hurt and he never seemed to understand that. Nevertheless she did as she was told and grabbed the first anime on the shelf and set it up, blinking back tears as she did. This was going to be significantly harder than she'd expected... She just had to be brave and remember that Undyne believed in her and would be back in an instant if things got too much. It was okay, she just had to stop being a coward and just do it.

 

She pressed play and went back to the sofa, where Mettaton was holding up a compact and checking his hair. What for she didn't quite know, out of all the people he could have wanted to impress she certainly wasn't one of them - she'd seen him before his bodies were built, she wasn't going to judge him if a stray hair was out of place. Maybe it was nerves, maybe Undyne was right about that. Or maybe he was just being Mettaton, which was entirely possible. Shaking the thoughts away she climbed up onto the sofa (listen, it wasn't her fault she had tiny legs, not everyone could have them designed specifically) as Mettaton turned, allowing her access to his back panels. The opening credits started and he hummed the theme quietly under his breath which, wow okay, maybe did she did watch anime too much since Mettaton knew the theme and he never payed actual attention whenever they were supposed to watch it together. As she began to open up his back panels she realised what a huge relief it was to have him facing the other way so he couldn't see her pained, awkward expressions as she worked out how to go about this.

 

“S-So how's Napstablook?”

 

“Oh Blooky's great, they're about to release an album you know, it took a while to talk them into it, they didn't think anyone would be interested but I've assured them otherwise.”

 

“That's a-awesome!”

 

Mettaton hummed in agreement and went back to checking his nails whilst she hooked him up to her tablet to access his data. For the most part his results were good, no fried circuitry although he was clearly using this form more often, if the battery drainage was anything to go by. She'd planned to work more on a better power source but well, everything had happened and she hadn't had time (or wanted to).

 

The two sat in silence for a little whilst Alphys did a little more tinkering and Mettaton tried to feign interest in the show she'd put on. But the longer they went on, the more her nerves started to get the better of her and she kept jabbing his circuitry and startling him.

 

“Darling,” he said, finally, after she'd accidentally shocked him for the fifth time, “there's clearly something bothering you. Please, for your sake and mine, don't keep it in.”

 

“Uh, r-right, s-sorry!”

 

She put his back panel back on and moved to sit next to him. This was it then.

 

“So? What's got you so shaken up?”

 

“I... Uh...” She fiddled with her claws as the words struggled to come out of her mouth. “We... Ah, we...”

 

“In the next month please Alphys.”

 

_See this is exactly, oh god don't cry now, why are you so horrible sometimes..._

 

“We need to t-talk.”

 

“Hm?” He replied, unaware of her emotional turmoil or meaning.

 

“A-About, what happened. You know we do. You promised we would.”

 

His expression changed then as he realised exactly what she was referring to. Most people probably wouldn't be able to spot how a bit of the light left his eyes and how his soul fluttered in its canister from nerves but Alphys could. She had created him after all.

 

“Yes,” He spoke softly, and from the way he said it she could tell he'd been putting this off too, “I did.” He shuffled a little on the sofa to get comfortable, knowing they were in for the long haul. “Alright then. Let's talk. Do you want to go first?”

 

“Uh s-sure.” Although now everything she wanted to say had gone out of her head. Where was she even supposed to start? Well, from where everything had publicly gone wrong, she supposed.

 

“I guess uh, I guess the first thing is ah... W-Why did you go off-script? W-With Frisk? We had a plan a-and you just... Why?”

 

Mettaton sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, in a gesture that Alphys realised was a mix of defensiveness and a sign he was feeling self-conscious.

 

“Because I was tired of it. Having to constantly be thwarted by your genius? No thank you, I looked like an idiot and I'd had enough. Besides, they were going to find out eventually, you couldn't keep lying forever.”

 

“I-I, but you, you said you were okay with it-”

 

“Yes of course I did darling, like I did when you asked me to play the same role for Asgore because you needed to impress him and I agreed to help because you promised you'd finish the Ex Form 'soon'. Only you didn't, did you? How long did you leave me waiting for this? And then when it did arrive I wasn't allowed to use it because you couldn't get the power working right. I mean, did you even try at all? Did you even care? Or were you just using me the whole time to convince everyone you're something you're not?”

 

It stung. Alphys ended up moving further back on the sofa as he spoke, the anger behind his accusations making her want to cry and hide. And to an extent he was right, but also...

 

“You n-never had to say yes to the plan for Frisk! Y-You could have-”

 

“You would have begged me.”

 

“N-No that's n-not-”

 

“Yes it is. Don't play dumb Alphys, you were desperate to impress them because finally someone new who didn't know about your previous mistakes, someone you could start afresh with. And you needed me because all you've done is close yourself off from everyone because you can't ever deal with your mistakes, and let's face it, it wasn't going to be Undyne you turned to.”

 

In hindsight, as she furiously scrubbed at her eyes, she was not prepared for this conversation in the slightest.

 

“You used me too!” Alphys cried out, her soul aching in her chest. “I-I took so long to finish your b-body because I knew you'd abandon me afterwards! A-And you did! You were distant when I m-made your original form b-but it only got worse! S-Sometimes I don't think you ever cared about me!”

 

“Don't be ridiculous!”

 

“It's true! Y-You always insult me a-and belittle me and the things I l-like, you didn't c-care about me! Only what I could do for you!”

 

“Alphys-”

 

“It always has to be about you Metta! Always! You roll your eyes w-when I talk about the things I like, but if-if I don't pay attention to you it's the e-end of the world! Its not fair!”

 

She was getting flustered and starting to shout, as much as a small lizard like her could, but all of her pent up frustration was spilling out and the dam had broken now, she couldn't hold it back.

 

“Y-You always mocked me for my feelings for Undyne a-and you went and embarrassed me on your show about it. Do you know how much th-that hurt?”

 

“I was just trying to have some fun! I wanted to perform Alphys! And not in the role of a killer robot! And it worked out for you two in the end didn't it?”

 

“Th-That's not the point!”

 

“You hurt me too! You lied to me! After all this time that we knew each other, when I talked to you about Shyren and her family and how awful it had been been with what happened to her cousin, who'd been my friend too, I told you how much it had upset me, only to find out you knew exactly what happened! You knew that they were below me the whole time and you didn't have the guts to tell me! You couldn't admit that it was your fault!” Mettaton's voice was starting to glitch out and Alphys could tell his systems were starting to overheat as he got more worked up.

 

“I told everyone, I-I sent them home I've tried to fix it, I'm still trying!”

 

“But you didn't care enough to tell me!”

 

“How c-could I have told you? You already r-resented me!”

 

“I never resented you! You just never really cared about me!”

 

“I-I did everything I could for you!”

 

Their voices had continued to grow as they spoke over one another until they broke and shouted at the same time:

 

“You were my friend and you used me!”

 

They started at each other in shock. The sudden moment of silence seemed to get rid of any remaining adrenaline left in Alphys, and as it abandoned her she felt herself start to sob. Frantically she brought her hands up to cover her mouth but it was too late as she hiccuped and tried to stop the tears. She wasn't alone in her crying though as she heard Mettaton swear quietly as he tried to rub away the coolant coming out of his eyes to no avail. She'd known he was capable of crying, he'd asked her to put it in in case he needed to for any performance, but she'd never actually seen it happen. “Al...” He whispered, shaking, looking up at her. She could feel her mouth tremble as she shuffled towards him with a timid “Metta...”, not knowing what to do. There was a moment of nothing before they hugged each other tightly, crying into each others shoulders. How had they managed to hurt each other so badly without the other person saying anything. Things had been so different in the beginning. And now here they were.

 

It took some time for them to calm down enough that they could pull away from each other, crying ceased for the most part even though they were still shaken. But despite all that there were still some things they had to say.

 

“W-When I saw you, after Frisk had fought you, I-I thought you were...” She couldn't say it. “And it scared me to think that... I-I know I've been a terrible friend, b-but if I lost you I don't think I could live with it.”

 

“Alphys...”

 

“Please don't leave me. P-Please... I'm s-so sorry...”

 

“I'm not leaving I swear... I'm sorry too. You're right, I... I've been unnecessarily cruel to you and that wasn't fair. I owe everything to you and I've never told you how thankful I am that you made my dreams come true. Everything I've built up started with you and... I'm sorry Al. For everything.”

 

“I-I should have told you about Shyren's cousin, that was w-wrong of me, I-I'm so sorry, I used you and I d-didn't see, I... I-I-”

 

“Shhh darling. Its okay. I... I'm sorry for betraying your trust, especially with your feelings for Undyne. It wasn't right of me to mock you for them on my show, even if it did work out. Which… I never got to congratulate you properly.”

 

“A-Ah, its f-fine...”

 

“No, I mean it. Anyone could see how happy she makes you. You're much more confident now than you used to be, and I know its from being with her. I'm happy for you Al. Genuinely. Me and her might not get on but I am grateful for the joy she brings you.”

 

Alphys smiled a little at that, although it made fresh tears come to her eyes which she desperately willed away. Noticing this, Mettaton took her hand and squeezed it gently, offering a timid smile of his own. A few more moments passed, the only sound being the background of the anime they'd put on earlier.

 

“I always cared about you Metta. I-I swear. You were one of my first real friends.”

 

“You were one of mine too.” He replied.

 

“W-What do we do now?” Alphys whispered to the open room as she stared at the TV, having not planned this far ahead. They'd laid their souls bare for each other, admitted all the hurt and the pain and the betrayal, what were they supposed to do now? Where did they go from here?

 

“I don't know.” Mettaton admitted softly, letting go of her hand wipe at his eyes and adjust his hair. “Things have to ch-change between us.”

 

Mettaton hummed in agreement. “They do.”

 

“Are we... D-Do you think we're gonna be okay?” Alphys asked nervously, not able to bring herself to look at him. Mettaton just leaned against her, neither of them taking their eyes off the screen in front of them.

 

“Yeah... We're gonna be okay Al.”

 

“Do you promise?”

 

“I promise.”

 

*****

 

When Undyne came home later that evening she expected to walk through the door to an empty living room, with the presumption that Mettaton would have left and Alphys would be upstairs (possibly crying. She didn't want to think it might have gone badly but she also didn't trust that metal sack of shit for one minute). She certainly wasn't expecting the two of them to be leant against each other on the sofa, dozing softly, the TV playing quietly in the background. Well, it can't have gone that badly if they were like this, right? The curiosity was nagging at her, but Undyne didn't want to disturb her girlfriend, who really did look adorable when she slept. She shut the front door as softly as she could muster (much to their friends disbelief she could be gentle when she wanted to be) and crept past the two of them into the kitchen to dump her belongings. She tried to be as quiet as she could but when she left the kitchen she could see Alphys starting to stir on the sofa. Cursing herself for waking up her girlfriend, Undyne walked over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek as Alphys sat up and yawned.

 

“Hey babe...” She murmured, nuzzling the top of her head. Alphys leant into her touch, reaching out to hold her hand. “Hey...” She replied timidly, clearly still very tired.

 

“Didn't mean to wake you. Is everything okay?”

 

Alphys looked over to Mettaton and sighed, a small smile curving her mouth. “Yeah... Just l-let me grab his spare charging cable.”

 

She wriggled off the sofa and went to retrieve the cable from a set of drawers, heading back over to plug the robot in. Undyne watched her fondly as she made sure that Mettaton was definitely charging before her shoulders slumped a little and she wandered back over to her girlfriend. Without another word Undyne took her hand and led her upstairs, sensing her exhaustion. When she shut the bedroom door behind them Alphys practically collapsed against her, much to Undyne's concern.

 

“Alphy?” She whispered, kneeling down to wrap her arms around her. “Are you okay? What happened?”

 

“Tired...” She mumbled into her girlfriends shoulder, letting her eyes fall shut. In the next moment she felt herself being picked up and carried over to their bed, before being carefully tucked into it as Undyne climbed in afterwards and snuggled up to her. “You don't have to tell me...” She started, sliding an arm around her girlfriend's waist to pull her closer, “But I'm kinda worried.”

 

“We cried... A-A lot. It was messy b-but... We did it. M'just so tired now...”

 

Undyne nodded and pressed kisses to Alphy's face. “I'm so proud of you Alphy. I knew you could do it.”

 

Alphys hummed, letting her eyes fall shut. All those emotions really had been exhausting and she was just ready to sleep now, knowing that things we're gonna be okay. She wasn't naïve enough to think that everything was fixed, they were going to have to work hard at being better friends to each other, that wasn't going to fix itself overnight. She needed to be more honest with him and he needed to make an effort to listen to her properly, but for once Alphys had faith that they'd be able to do it. In the morning she'd tell him he could stay for breakfast and they'd see where they went from there.

 

Maybe it would take a while but she was willing to wait. Life on the surface had shown her how much she cherished her loved ones and she would always include Mettaton in that list. They could learn to be kind to each other again, like they were in the beginning, she knew it.

 

She fell asleep to Undyne's kisses and a warmth in her soul telling her that things were gonna work out just fine.

 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments!! 
> 
> i'm mermaidtechie on tumblr!! also i cosplay a lot of undertale my insta is aicosplays


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